Los Angeles Queens take Game 1 of WPBL championship behind Jamie Mackay's relief work
Jamie Mackay is best known as a power-hitting catcher. It’s the position she plays most regularly for the Los Angeles Queens in the Women’s Professional Baseball League, smashing five home runs during the regular season – third-most in the league. She’s a catcher at the University of South Carolina, too, where she hit eight home runs last season.
But in the WPBL, where many players pull double-duty, Mackay has been called upon as a pitcher – even getting the start in Game 2 of the playoff semifinals against the New York Heights. But on Wednesday night, after the first-place San Francisco Firebells took a 4-1 lead on Amanda Gianelloni’s grand slam, Mackey's team needed her on the mound. She was called on to relieve Amira Hondras just four outs into the first championship game in league history.
The Queens didn’t need anyone else in their bullpen. Not superstar Ayami Sato, the second overall Draft pick, nor team closer and Team USA women’s national baseball team veteran Meggie Meidlinger, in L.A.'s 7-6 win against the Firebells.
"I was trying to avoid [them]," Queens manager Eric Young Sr. said with a laugh after the game.
After never throwing more than 3 2/3 innings in a single outing this year, Mackay threw 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and surrendering just two runs. Three of those strikeouts came in the fifth when the Firebells pushed runners to second and third and were threatening to break the contest open.
“I’ll do anything to help our team,” Mackay said after the game.
That gave the Queens' offense plenty of time to come back. Trailing 6-2 after three, they scratched across a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to end Whitmore’s night with five earned runs in five innings pitched.
Down by one, the Queens' Mo’ne Davis led off the sixth inning with a double against reliever and Mexican national team pitcher Rosi del Castillo. Davis then moved to third when Ayuri Shimano laid down a sacrifice bunt. Del Castillo went to field it, but her knee buckled beneath her, requiring her to be carted off the field.
With two on and no outs, team captain Ashton Lansdell -- one of the faces of the new league, who also hosts the official WPBL podcast -- came to the plate. A standout softball player at Ole Miss and in the Bananaball league, Lansdell laced the game-tying RBI double just inside the third-base bag.
With runners on second and third, Australian national team captain Caitlin Eynon, who was 3-for-3 with three singles in her previous at-bats, came up with a chance to take the lead. Facing Liz Gilder, who has become one of the Firebells’ most important relievers, she skied a fly ball to center field to bring home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
“Baseball is a big game of momentum,” Eynon said on the broadcast when she was named player of the game. “We had a lot of momentum coming into this from our New York game.”
Mackay didn’t need any help from there. She retired the final nine batters she faced, getting Andreanne Leblanc to ground out to second for the final out.
With the upset win, the Queens take a 1-0 lead against the Firebells and will now have a rested bullpen for Thursday night’s Game 2 in the best-of-five series. San Francisco will now need to bounce back, likely down an important arm in their bullpen.